Manchester United took a step backwards to dissipate the momentum from the Arsenal performance, escaping with a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Ruben Amorim’s men started brightly and could have easily gone up by at least two goals in the first ten minutes, but that was where it peaked.
Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty, and their attacking threats went off the boil as Fulham grew into the game, ultimately looking like the likelier team to get the winner.
Alex Iwobi was a big reason why that happened, and the Fulham man issued a damning verdict on Amorim’s system after the game.
Alex Iwobi of Fulham runs with the ball under pressure from Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United during the Premier League match between Fulham and Manchester United at Craven Cottage on August 24, 2025
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Alex Iwobi on weakness in Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd system
Amorim has talked about his back-three system at Old Trafford repeatedly, saying how the numbers on the team sheet don’t matter.
The team has also looked better drilled this season, albeit the bar was not very high after the disaster of the previous season.
However, Man Utd fans would be rightly concerned with how his team finished the game against Fulham, as they were under the cosh.
Iwobi found plenty of joy down the middle despite Manuel Ugarte coming on to shore up United’s midfield, and the player said his joy had more to do with Amorim’s system instead of the player involved.
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He said [speaking on Premier League productions broadcast]: “I push on higher and get in those pockets. We worked on it in training. We knew that we would be able to get behind their two midfielders, and their three centre-backs immediately jump, so we were able to execute that today.”
Marco Silva added further salt to Amorim’s wounds, repeating in more detail what Iwobi said.
Silva said: “We knew how they defend, and we know they like to squeeze from the back five. And if you don’t give bodies for them to squeeze from the back five, you can create superiority in the middle.
“We know they play with two in the middle, we tried to overload with our three plus Alex. It was as simple as that.” [Silva’s comments start at 17-minute mark]
Amorim’s system demands perfection
Iwobi’s point is something that has been highlighted by many pundits as well, and Amorim knows it too, but therein lies the problem.
This team needs a player who can effectively hold the whole of midfield on his own, which renders the manager’s role irrelevant.
A manager’s job is to maximise the strengths of his players and hide their weaknesses, which doesn’t look possible right now.
An athletic midfield and a goalkeeper will transform the team, but only if they play at their absolute best and play a perfect game every time.
A team should be good enough to recover from individual mistakes and missed chances, because human players will make errors.
Demanding perfection in each game is not a sustainable way to win games. That’s down to the system.